Drummoyne Public School

New NSW Student learning library

The new NSW Student Learning Library is a suite of learning resources which are accessible for teachers, parents and carers, and students to be used in class or at home.

The resources are aligned with new syllabuses and have been quality assured by educational professionals within the department. The new resources will supplement and complement other resources being provided by the department, including units developed by department curriculum experts to support the roll-out of new syllabuses.

The library currently contains K-2 English and Mathematics learning resources. The remaining K-10 learning resources are to be released over the next 3-5 years aligned to the new NSW syllabus rollout.

Parent Teacher Interviews

P&C AGM

On Tuesday 21 March, the school P&C AGM will take place and we will be planning for the year ahead in relation to school events. I would like to invite all interested parents, especially parents new to the school, to join us and play a part in our school and community activities this year.

An important part of the meeting will be the election of the P&C executive as all positions will be declared vacant. This is an excellent opportunity to become involved at the start of the year with a new P&C executive and team. I look forward to catching up with you in the library on the 21st from 7.30pm.

NAPLAN timetable (see below)

Please see the session times below for NAPLAN which commences on 15 March. Students in classes sitting NAPLAN in the 9.20am sessions are asked to be at school at 9am.

Year 5 students in class 5H created collages inspired by the famous Italian artist, Giuseppe Arcimbodo, whose portraits of emperors made up of fruit and vegetables were hugely popular in Europe during the late 16th Century.  

Regular school attendance is a priority in all schools and ensures the best chance for children to achieve their full potential. At Drummoyne PS we have enjoyed high levels of attendance over many years and this reflects the high level of support from our parent community.

The Department of Education has reminded the school of procedures that are to be followed when a student is late to arrive or absent from school. Attached to the newsletter is the Department of Education’s parent information pamphlet with detailed information on all aspects of student attendance.

Whole Day Absence

• If a student is absent from school for the whole day, a note is to be returned with the student on the first day of the students’ return to school for recording on the class roll.
• A verbal notification by phone or email to the school on the day of absence/or prior is also supported and will be forwarded to the class teacher.
• The school will follow up absences if a notification has not been made within 7 days.

Partial Day Absence

• Students arriving after the bell are expected to go to the school office to be marked as late to school and the reason will be recorded. They are given a late notice and this is handed in to the teacher on arrival to class.
• Students requiring an early pickup are called to the office after the parents have notified the office staff. The reason for the absence is entered on the roll and recorded as an absence.

If you have not let the school know the reason why your child has not attended school, we will send a daily SMS to alert you. If a response is not received, a letter will then be sent home requesting an explanation. Your child’s teacher may also contact you to ask for a medical certificate if the absence has been longer than 3 days due to illness.

If you have any questions in relation to our procedures for monitoring student attendance, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Dianne Colb

Deputy Principal

Information for Year 6 Parents

In NSW Government schools, moving from primary school to high school is called the 'Year 6 to Year 7 transition'.

If you would like your child to attend a government high school in 2024, you will need to complete an expression of interest for Year 6 to 7 transition. The expression of interest lets you indicate which school(s) you would like your child to attend in Year 7. After you submit this expression of interest and it has been assessed, your child will be offered a place at a government high school. 

The EOI process is now available online. Applications open on Monday 6 March and close on Friday 31 March.

If your child will not be attending a NSW Government high school next year, please let us know by completing a Placement Not Required form.

If you are unsure whether they will be attending a NSW Government school (you’ve applied for a private school, or you are moving interstate), we ask that you still complete an EOI and follow up with your school once a decision has been made.

The online process will guide you through your options and collect the information required to make the process as smooth as possible.

For parents/carers who are not able to complete an application online, a paper EOI form can be collected from the school office.

Respect awards - Rawson says congratulations to:

• Kayla Cagnola - 3/4A
• Claire Lindquist - 3/4R

• Kayne Anastasiou - 3/4R
• Chloe Frith - 3/4S
• Charlotte Auzins - 4/5K
• Marcello Di Giovanni - 5/6C

• Charles Holtsbaum - 3/4R
• Isaac Navendra - 4/5K

Mr Dill says congratulations to:

• Ruby Baggett-Grenfell - 3/4W - Respect badge
• Kayla Cagnola - 3/4A - Responsibility badge
• Chloe Frith - 3/4S - Resilience badge

We would like to congratulate our age champions from the recent DPS swimming carnival, namely:

• Junior Girls - Isabelle Kerr                              Junior Boys - Cameron Barry
• 11 Yrs Girls - Lola Mave                                   11 Yrs Boys - Samuel Allport
• 12 Yrs Girls -  Elise Goh                                   12 Yrs Boys -  Hayden Howard

Congratulations also to the winning sports house - MACARTHUR. 

On Wednesday we sent off our elite swimmers to the IWPSSA Zone Swimming Carnival. All of the swimmers represented DPS with pride with the following swimmers gaining places in the following events, namely:

• Hayden Howard: 3rd 100m Freestyle, 3rd 50m Freestyle, 2nd 50m Breaststroke, 3rd 50m Butterfly, 3rd 50m Backstroke, 2nd 200m Individual Medley, 1st Senior Relay.
• Archer Keenan: 2nd 50m Freestyle.
• Elise Goh: 3rd 50m Backstroke.
• Cameron Barry: 1st 50m Freestyle, 2nd 50m Breaststroke, 2nd 50m Butterfly, 2nd 50m Backstroke, 1st 200m Individual Medley, 2nd Junior Relay.
• Sam Allport: 1st 50m Freestyle, 3rd 50m Breaststroke, 3rd 50m Butterfly, 2nd 50m Backstroke, 1st Senior Relay.
• Lachlan Ong: 3rd 50m Freestyle, 1st 50m Breaststroke, 3rd 50m Backstroke, 1st Senior Relay.
• Jaiman Vanza: 2nd Junior Relay.
• Jake Luciano: 2nd Junior Relay.
• Will Howard: 2nd Junior Relay.
• Dom Chen: 1st Senior Relay.

Well done to Cameron Barry who won IWPSSA Junior Boys Champion and to our boys swim team who won the Champion Boy's shield once again.

Sincere thanks to Mrs Leah Pegler who organised the zone carnival. The day was a huge success and we thank Mrs Pegler for her time and effort. 

The Sydney East swimming carnival will be held on Monday 13th March. We wish Archer Keenan, Cameron Barry, Sam Allport, Lachlan Ong, Hayden Howard, Dom Chen, Jaiman Vanza, Jake Luciano & Will Howard the best of luck.

Amanda Champion

Sport Co-Ordinator

Last week, I competed at the State Nippers carnival at Queenscliff and North Steyne.

I competed in the Cameron Relay, consisting of a swimmer, board paddler and two runners. I was the first runner. We came first in our heat and made it through to the finals.

I also competed in sprints and relays. In sprints, I progressed through several heats, quarter finals, semi finals and the final. In the final, I was so nervous, as I had two of the best runners in NSW! When the race had finished, I had come 4th by centimetres!

The All Age Relay, is a relay including a competitor from every age group - U9’s, U10’s, U11’s, U12’s, U13’s and U14’s. We ran the same race three times and made it to the final. We came second overall. We also had an U11 girls relay, which we won back-to-back gold in.

Lastly , I competed in 'Flags'. I went through many rounds and made it to the finals, where I came third overall.

I loved every day of the carnival and was so happy when I heard that my club, North Bondi, had won the overall points score for the carnival!

Amber Worden 5/6O

* James Worden also competed in the U9 Boys and his results follow: 9th in sprint, just missed the semi finals in flags, 6th in mixed relay. It was a fantastic four days of competition, teamwork, friendships and memories.

Congratulations to Jack Cameron, Jack Cleave, Xavi Modena and Ned Lea for successfully trialing for the IWPSSA Zone AFL team. Good luck at the Sydney East Gala Day on Tuesday 14th March. 

We are excited that Sydney Swans players are planning to drop in to school at 4.30pm on Wednesday 8 March to kick a footy around and sign some autographs. Please drop in to say hi! As grand finalists last year, the Swans are pumped for a big season and are ready to prove themselves once again come September.

Amanda Champion

Sports Co-ordinator

Class photos and individual portraits will be taken on Tuesday 7 March. The photo order envelopes were sent home this week. Each child is asked to hand in their order envelope at the office prior to photo day.

Yeji Kim

Photo Day Co-ordinator

“There is no such thing as ‘away’. When we throw anything away, it must go somewhere.” - Annie Leonard

You may have once said, “Hey, it’s just one plastic straw - it won’t hurt the planet”. But the thing is, if every single one of the eight billion humans on the planet waste even just one plastic bag or straw, that’s already eight million plastic bags and straws wasted. Look at your shirt. Is it made of polyester? Bad for the environment. What about the packaging for your sandwich that you don’t care about? Reuse it. And it’s the same thing for single-use plastic bags, the handle on your watch, most of your water bottle, and who knows what else. Let’s face it: our lives are dependent on plastic. It is everywhere. In the house, classroom, and workspace. What can we do to stop this?

The quantity of plastic produced today is an unbelievable number. Every minute, about 1 million plastic bottles are purchased every minute, with the majority of this number being used only once, then thrown away. Across the globe, we also use about 500 million single-use plastic bags every year! Nearly 300 million tonnes of plastic waste are produced each year globally, which mostly goes to one of 5 major garbage patches around the world, with the largest spanning 1.6 million square kilometers of the Pacific Ocean! In addition, only 1% of plastic is recycled worldwide. Moreover, the waste in the sea kills at least 100,000 marine animals and 1 million seabirds, with this number estimated to outweigh all the fish in the sea by 2050.

This week, class 5/6O investigated where a piece of plastic waste like some GladWrap or a plastic bag left in our playground could travel after being left on the ground. We marked its route in the air, traversing by wind, then marked the tides and currents in the Parramatta River. Once the plastic bag reaches the open sea, we studied the deep-sea currents that could carry this piece of waste around the world, and marked where it could theoretically end up. We marked these on the map of the world. Overall, we believe that this investigation was certainly extremely intriguing, and are thrilled to learn so many interesting facts about plastic on our planet. So here’s a word from everyone in our class to you all: reuse, reduce, and recycle, and continue helping out around the community in every way possible!

Triet Nguyen 5/6O

Stage 3 Choir 

Year 5 and 6 students are invited to come to the library for Stage 3 choir on Wednesday mornings at 8:30am. Please come along if you are interested, even if you have not sung much before. 

Hope you see you there!

Kathy Xenos

Stage 2 Choir

It was great to see so many faces at the first choir meeting. If you missed it, don't worry!

Come and join us at 8.30am on Wednesday mornings. I will meet you at the front gate. 

Amanda Champion

Students in Year 1 and 2 are welcome to join the Stage 1 Choir, every Thursday from 8:50am.

Please come to the KB classroom for songs and fun times with Mrs Buchanan and Mrs O'Reilly-Gomes!

See you there.

Jessica Buchanan

The NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge is officially underway!

As in previous years, students in years Kindy, 1 and 2 do not have to log their reading. Their reading will be logged by Mr Neufeld in the library. Parents are welcome to add any home reading if they’d like. Students in years 3, 4, 5 and 6 must log their own reading. Mr Neufeld will go through how to do this in library lessons over the coming weeks.

The challenge is mostly the same as in previous years, but there are a few small rule changes to let you all know about.

1. The Challenge opened on 27 February 2023. You must complete your online Student Reading Record by 18 August 2023 (11:59 pm) to complete the Challenge.
2. The total number of books students must read remains the same, but now students can read up to 10 personal choice books (books NOT on the PRC list), up from 5 last year.

3. In an approved series on the PRC booklist, you can read any 5 books as PRC books (previously, only 3). You can read up to ten other books from the same series as Personal Choice books.

The best way to access the PRC website is through the student portal.

Happy reading!

Mr Neufeld

Students who need a School Opal card or travel pass for 2023, can now apply.

A new application will need to be submitted if they are applying for the first time, or if they are requesting an additional travel entitlement as a result of a new shared parental responsibility situation (e.g. joint custody). Students who change address, school, campus location, have repeated a year or received an expiry notification from Transport for NSW for their school travel entitlement should renew or update their details before the end of term 4. This will ensure that schools can endorse applications, and entitlements remain valid for the start of the 2023 school year.

Students in the Opal network applying for an Opal card for the first time will receive their Student Opal card at their nominated postal address. Cards will be mailed out from January 2023.

For further details please see the attachment below.

Please ensure your child’s name is permanently and clearly labelled on belongings such as school hats, jackets, lunch boxes, drink bottles and school bags.

Please use a permanent laundry marker to label clothes, hats and shoes, or sew or iron on personalised labels, go through your child’s bag with them regularly and check that labels haven’t faded with washing.

For new students who require medication to be administered at school, all instructions and medications need to be handed in to the office.

To support this process and ensure the dosage is correct and medicine is stored securely, please complete the “Request for administration of prescribed medication to a student” form and hand in at the office with the medicine.  The form is available from the school office and can also be found on our school website.

No student should keep medication in their bags. Thank you for supporting the health and safety of all students.

For returning students, any changes to medication should also be directed to the office.

Dear Parents & Carers,

The P&C are looking to assign one Class Parent per class, as a point of contact between the P&C and the wider school community. School parent Angela Farrell will be coordinating all the class parents this year. 

What does a Class Parent do?

• Set up a WhatsApp group for their class (with our help!)
• Forward important messages and date reminders from the Class Parent coordinator to their class (only a few times per term)
• Pass questions on from their class group to the Class Parent Coordinator

What are the benefits of being a class parent?

• Be the first to know what’s going on!
• You get to know more parents in your class
• You can do the role from your phone!

If you are interested in being a class parent this year, please add your name to this google form:

https://forms.gle/sX9Nzf5yPAFhTfiS7

We will be in contact with volunteers to help them set up their class Whatsapp group. Questions can be emailed to classparent@drummoynepublicschool.com.au

DPS P&C

The March P&C Meeting and AGM will be held on Tuesday 21 March from 7.30pm in the library. Everyone is invited to attend.

We hope you can join us!

Please order school uniforms online. The P&C will process orders and the school office staff will distribute them.

 Please use our school Registration ID: 2572963 to create an account if you don’t already have one for canteen orders.

Welcome to 2023

We hope everyone had a wonderful break and are well rested, ready to jump into the new school year!

New class names have been updated on school24. Please log on to school24 ASAP and update your children's classes for the 2023 year. Student lunch orders will go into the wrong lunch tubs if not updated.

In order for the canteen to be able to offer a sausage sizzle on Fridays and pasta during the week, we desperately need volunteers. If you have half an hour or more to spare we would love to have your help.

To volunteer, please log in to your school24 account.

• Click on Volunteers Roster in purple.
• Choose month-click view roster.
• Choose day and time. It’s so easy!

We are looking forward to having your company and help plus your children will be so excited to see you too!

Canteen, P&C Committee

canteen@drummoynepublicschool.com.au

To book Gowrie NSW - enrolment forms can be found on the Gowrie website:

https://www.gowriensw.com.au/out-of-hours-care/drummoyne-and-stmarks

Contact Rekkha for more information on 0436 616 744.

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